Snapchat Attempting to Stop Spam Accounts

Leon Hitchens

5 years ago

In an attempt to plug security holes which allowed hackers to access over millions of users phone numbers. The app has a new way to stop people from creating mass dummy accounts which are used to skim users phone numbers. When new users sign up, they’re shown nine images instead of the usual captcha, and they have to prove they’re not a bot by choosing the ones with Snapchat’s ghost mascot.

There are problems with the new way to stop spam because vision or object recognition algorithms are able to bypass the checks. However, this should deter some spammers from even attempting to create mass amounts of spam accounts. In addition to the captcha, Snapchat is using server side checks to ensure users are real who use the Find Friends, which means only real users can use this feature.

Snapchat has a huge problem on their hand, and this could be a huge problem considering they’ve only really started to take off. The company needs to find ways to make money, and brands are working towards getting on it to market towards the younger crowd. Snapchat has had buyout offers, but has turned them down for unknown reasons.